Housing for workers in the [Vietnamese] industrial zones

This article gives a picture of the appalling housing conditions of workers employed in the IZs and EPZs, the special industrial zones established to attract foreign investment.

Housing is a burning issue for the whole of [Vietnamese] society
as national industrialisation and modernisation goes ahead. Because
housing demands are not met this gives rise to the more common
existence of sordid slums. And yet housing is in great demand in the
industrial and export processing zones of Tan Tao, Vinh Loc (Binh
Chanh), Linh Trung (Thu Duc), around Ho Chi Minh City and in other
provinces in the South East Delta region. Housing for those who
produce the wealth of society must be taken deadly seriously.

Ho Chi Minh City: in the plans for developing IZs and EPZs,
housing was 'forgotten'

With nine IZs and two EPZs, Ho Chi Minh City has a vital role to
play in the course of 'doi moi' [reform] and development. The total
area of these zones reaches 2,050 hectares. There were about 65,000
workers in these areas, and this number was expected to rise to
70,000 or even 90,000 by the end of the year 2000. 70 per cent are
migrant workers from other provinces. Thus, there is a dire need of
housing for workers at IZs and EPZs who have to live very far from
their families. However, when these zones were built, they "forgot"
about building houses for the workers.

At present, in the Tan Tao IZ of Binh Chanh there are about 15,000
migrant workers, most of them working for the same IZ. That explains
why local people are building a series of sordid slums to rent out to
these workers. And around these slums social problems emerge. Sadly
we have to say that opposite Linh Trung (a modern EPZ) in Thu Duc the
workers' houses are damp, ramshackle and have patched up rooms. "We
and our two children have to live in this slum because we have very
little money," said Nguyen Thi Le. "If we do not live here, where can
we go and live?"

As we enter these rooms, we are overwhelmed by a feeling of nausea
due to the lack of hygiene, no outlet for waste water, and sewage
overspills. They live together with disease carrying germs. There are
of course no leisure facilities, no places of entertainment, no
playgrounds. Most of the workers living in these rooms are young.
They pay between 200,000 to 300,000 Dongs a month for their rooms.
But four to five workers share one room and that leaves only enough
room to line up together when sleeping. In this situation, increasing
insecurity and disorder are unavoidable.

Dong Nai: the majority of workers live in sordid slums

Dong Nai has ten EPZs and nearly 90,000 workers from other
provinces are employed there. Housing for workers at these EPZs in
Dong Nai is also in an abysmal state. The Trade Unions of Dong Nai
province conducted a survey on workers' housing needs at five
enterprises in the province. The results revealed that 65,43 per cent
of the workers have to rent houses at a cost between 50,000 and
200,000 Dongs per person, per month. Apart from the workers who live
in the company compounds, the rest have to live in slums, which are
even worse, with no cleaning facilities, and very poor living
conditions.

In order to solve this problem, in Bien Hoa-Dong Nai city, there
several house building projects were launched for the workers in
these IZs. The Dong Nai Housing company built a block of 100 rooms to
be rented for 40,000 Dongs per person per month. But shortly
afterwards the company raised the rent and many workers were no
longer able to afford it. Housing for workers at the Dong Nai IZs
remains an unsolved problem.

The way out?

To partially overcome this situation, some companies have begun to
build houses for their workers. 150 houses, built by the Savimex
Company, were sold to the workers on the basis of a five-year token
payment. Cholimex built thirty rooms to be rented out for 50,000
Dongs per person, per month. Some other companies have also launched
housing projects for their workforce. However, with such an immense,
and increasing, number of workers when will these housing projects,
launched in a haphazard manner by some companies, be able to offer
decent living quarters for the workers?

What is urgently needed is to plan the urban zones around the IZs
and EPZs. This not only includes a strategy for attracting the
workforce, but it also demands humanity in the way labourers are used
by the enterprises. In the beginning, when the IZs and EPZs were
being planned and built, the housing issue was forgotten. Therefore
now, the state and the companies operating in these IZs and EPZs must
quickly find a solution. The burning issue is not only housing, but
also the conditions in these modern industrial urban zones. "The
formation of IZs and EPZs was not only aimed at stimulating the
economy of Ho Chi Minh City. It also had the purpose of drawing
surplus and redundant labourers from the rural areas. Therefore, the
state must establish a more privileged policy for the investors and
also clear regulations covering the question of living quarters for
the workers that a company takes on in its factory", Nguyen Nhon
Trung of the IZs and EPZs management board said.

The urgent task in these IZs and EPZs is also to build public
buildings: leisure and entertainment centres. Also, schools for
workers' children are urgently in need, since there are no schools
for them at present.